I've mentioned before that our household income has decreased by pretty much half since I lost my job at Large Corporation. I'm trying to change my spending habits as well as save the family money when I can. I haven't exactly figured it all out yet, obviously, but I'm trying. Trying is half the battle, no? I'm going to list 10 things that I've done in the past week or so to try to save money. Some of them may seem lame, but they also reflect a different way of doing things for me, which will ultimately save money. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

1. Called and ordered our land line to be switched over to our cable provider. They have a bundle package - cable, internet, phone and I keep my phone number. This simple task saves me FORTY DOLLARS A MONTH.

2. I didn't run out and buy the index cards I need to study. I thought I might have some, somewhere deep in the back of a drawer somewhere in this house. Normally, I'd just say fuck it, it's $1.29, I'll just pick them up and find the others later. But I didn't. I searched today, lo and behold, with only 5 minutes of searching I found them. I can't tell you how happy this stupid little act of patience made me.

3. I ate dinner early yesterday (at about 4 ish) so that I wouldn't be tempted to buy something from the deli at work.

4. I am using 3 ring binders we had around the house for my classes.

5. I haven't purchased one new pen for class. You know I have a pen thing. I have restrained myself. It has not been easy.

6. Set up some more automatic online bill payments to save both stamps and late payments. I had some already set up, but am moving towards not needing to write/send any checks at all.

7. You know I work at a retail store at our town's largest mall. I have not stepped foot into the mall in weeks. Not even on my break, when I usually love to browse....which leads to buying. I know everything's on clearance and I am sure I could pick up a few bargains. I just don't need them. If I don't see the bargain, then I don't miss the bargain.

8. I'm trying to not buy Diet Coke from the vending machines at work or school. Buying it at the store is cheaper.

9. Also trying to bring snacks to school (trail mix, etc.) as to avoid putting even more money into the vending machines.

10. Trying to use up the entire product before opening the new one. This goes for boxes of cereal, crackers or snacks, household cleaning products, whatever. I have a terrible habit of opening the new package and completely abandoning the original package, which causes it to get stale then wasted.

6 Comments:

Seperate your needs from your wants, we'll ll be a lot happier. ( good lesson in life in general and one of my favorites, oft quoted)

That is now the guideline for me. Sure, sometimes I splurge recklessly but knowing what I (we) need and measuring that against what we don't need...uhmmm. The difference equals cash.

Good job on finding the index cards. We are index card freaks and could probably insulate a house with the 100 packs we have in a stash. Go figure..do we need more? NOOOO! Use the ones we've got. Just have to find them.

Good on ya' . The understanding is the start of a good thing.

Oh, and this winter term has been p*st*t heaven. Add two Spring semester classes, photocopies and online info...we used p*st*ts like no tomorrow. Sorry, but it worked. I know what is in the course packets,what is online and what we changed this year from last. I love p*st*t notes! I needed p*st*t notes. For sure.

Snob, I disagree - I don't think these are baby steps at all. In fact, I think that a lot of people don't realize how much they do whittle away on the things that you list here, and it's smart of you to put them into a format that others can learn from.

I'm TOTALLY a "use the WHOLE thing" person - to the point that I'll squeeze the last MOLECULE of toothpaste out of the tube before I'll consent to a new one being opened. It's the frugal New England Yankee gene that I was most decidedly born with.

I need to look into the phone thing. I've been saying I'll do it for about a year now, but I never have. Gotta.

Finally - seriously? I haven't paid a bill in the mail for a little more than a year - the only checks I've written since the calendar turned to '07 have been to the girls' schools for pictures and functions and fundraisers, and to my stylist, who doesn't take credit cards. I LURVE auto-pay - I haven't been late on a car or house payment in nearly two years. SO worth it, too, to not have to worry about forgetting; having the things set up automatically frees up those brain cells for other, more important information.

$40 a month is not a babystep. Neither I think is the bringing coke and snacks to work. I do my very best to do that these days and it's the difference between a lunch that costs $12 and one that costs $5. That adds up in no time.